Glycan changes caused by insulin-deficient diabetes in the mouse liver

To determine the effect of insulin deficiency on global changes to expression of glycan related genes in the liver. See: Joseph R. Bishop,‡ Erin Foley,‡§ Roger Lawrence,‡ and Jeffrey D. Esko‡1 (2010) Insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus in Mice Does Not Alter Liver Heparan Sulfate* J Biol Chem. 2010 May 7; 285(19): 14658–14662. We are studying the glycan changes caused by insulin-deficient diabetes in the mouse liver. We would like to determine whether insulin-deficiency causes global changes to expression of glycan-related genes in the liver. Male C57BL/6 mice (4 weeks of age) were purchased from Jackson Laboratory and maintained in a temperature-controlled (25 °C) facility with a 12-h light/dark cycle. The derivation and genotyping of Ndst1f/fAlbCre+ mice have been described previously (16). Mice were fed laboratory rodent chow (Harlan-Teklad) ad libitum except when fasting blood specimens were obtained. Mice were made diabetic by administering 50 mg/kg body weight of streptozotocin (STZ; Sigma) intraperitoneally for 5 consecutive days. Because of variations in plasma triglycerides in females, only male mice were used in this study. Our preliminary results suggest glycosaminoglycan enzymes may be down-regulated, which may affect the turnover of lipids in the plasma. Liver RNA samples from 3 diabetic mice will be compared to 3 wildtype samples for properly controlled analysis.